Event Information

Date and Time

Location

Description

The 5th annual Juneteenth Freedom and Music Festival will take place on June 17, 2017 at 3707 Brill Street in the 5th Ward Community Garden. This celebratory festival is sponsored by the All African People’s Development & Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) 5th Ward Community Garden and the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM).

It will be a day of fun and games for the kids, and a day of good music led by “Tighten Up” fame R&B artist Archie Bell. In addition, the Reggae Band Idiginis and and R&B big band Ray Williams and the Majortones, along with many, many more insures a day of good music and cultural entertainment.

This will also be a day of serious discussion on the plight of African people all over the world. Omali Yeshitela, leader of the Uhuru Movement will lead the line-up of speakers including Dr. Aisha Fields, the International Director of AAPDEP, Kalambayi Andenet President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, along with other national and local representatives and activists.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of chattel slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free, two and a half years after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

However, in 2017 we are still not a free people. Our dire economic situation and the deadly relationship the black community has with the police throughout this country attest to this. That’s why this Juneteenth is titled Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru Freedom and Music Festival. Uhuru is a Swahili word that means freedom.

African drumming and dance, games for children, as well as arts & crafts. Vendors are welcomed . For more information contact Omowale Kefing at (214) 707-7309 or Adeyemi at (213) 327-9532.